Gurugram breathes ‘moderate’ air third day in row

The minimum temperature in the city on Monday was recorded at 5.4 degrees Celsius—around three degrees below the normal for this time of the year—according to the

The minimum temperature in the city on Monday was recorded at 5.4 degrees Celsius—around three degrees below the normal for this time of the year—according to the India Meteorological Department (IMD). Monday’s minimum temperature was a degree lower than Sunday’s minimum temperature, as per IMD data.

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Weather experts said the low minimum temperature was a result of cold northwesterly winds.

“The last western disturbance passed us around January 29 and no significant weather system has been recorded in the region. Whenever there is a gap between two weather systems, the temperature falls,” Kuldeep Srivastava, senior scientist at the IMD, said.

However, due to mostly clear skies the last two or three days, the maximum temperature has not deviated by a large extent from the normal, experts said.

The maximum temperature in the city rose to 21.3 degrees Celsius on Monday from 20.5 degrees Celsius the previous day, as per the IMD’s data. The maximum temperature is predicted to rise to 22 degrees Celsius around Thursday.

The minimum temperature could rise to 7 or 8 degrees Celsius on Tuesday and Wednesday, as per the IMD’s prediction. Shallow fog with visibility around 500 metres was reported in Palam at 8.30am, where the IMD has a weather monitoring station.

The city’s Air Quality Index (AQI) on Monday was in the ‘moderate’ category for the third straight day, with a reading of 184 on the Central Pollution Control Board’s (CPCB) air quality bulletin at 4pm. Sunday’s AQI reading was recorded at 142.

Particulate matter (PM) 2.5 on Monday was recorded at a maximum of 117µg/m³—up from 100µg/m³, as per the CPCB’s air quality monitor at Vikas Sadan in Sector 11.

However, air quality is expected to deteriorate on Tuesday and fall in the ‘poor’ category due to low wind speeds (around 6kmph) and a partly cloudy sky, according to the CPCB forecast.